b (11) and Abbi (11). Amy had thought about adoption for years before Jon was ready to talk about it. She never pushed him. Hardly ever brought it up. Except to God. Adoption is HUGE and Amy knew that she and Jon needed to be in full agreement that they should do it. It wouldn’t work if she was all in and Jon was on the fence. Throughout all those years of waiting for Jon to get off the fence and jump in, there was always a picture in Amy’s head. She had looked at countless orphan websites and countless photos of available children over the years. She gets weekly emails from many orphan/adoption ministries. In the fall of 2009 when Jon and Amy began discussing adoption seriously, the picture became a little clearer. Recently, one of Amy’s Facebook friends posted a picture of Vera from the Reece’s Rainbow website.IT WAS HER! The girl from the picture in Amy’s head. Without a doubt.

n (Ray)and Amber (Alex) have been married 7 years. They are blessed with 3 biological kids. Their oldest Ian is almost 6. He is sensitive, intense and passionate about everything, and loves to take things apart and figure out how they work. Chava is almost 4. She loves gymnastics and taking careful care of her dolls, including regular diaper changes. Micah is almost 2. He loves whatever his older siblings are doing, but most of all he loves trains and helping mommy and daddy in the kitchen by stirring and tasting. Ray works in IT at Dell, Inc. Alex takes good care of the kids at home full time, and also is starting to homeschool Ian.

Ray and Alex were completely surprised when the pieces starting very quickly falling in to place to adopt. Alex had shown Ray a waiting child on RR that had caught her eye, when he surprisingly responded that they could consider adopting. After a week or two of much discussing and dreaming they formally started down the path to grow their family. They have felt a particular affinity to HIV+ kids, and look forward to bringing Max and Lena home where proper nutrition and medical care can make a world of difference in their prognosis.

The Dahlen family lives in Birmingham, AL. Michael is a mechanical engineer, and Brandy homeschools the children, teaches at a local university, and also volunteers her time working with exchange students, including students from Russia and Ukraine. The couple has lived outside of the country and love to travel and learn about different cultures. Their biological children are Nathan (13), Anna Faith (7), Samuel (5), Abigail (forever 2), and Eli (7 months). Abigail was hit by a car and killed 7 months ago. This tragedy was unexpected and very painful to the family, but as a family, the Dahlen’s have refused to allow Abigail’s tragic death to prevent preceding with their calling to adopt. Michael and Brandy have both felt called to adopt since they were married. Both have read and followed the blogs on Reece’s Rainbow for a long time and have dreamed of their own opportunity to adopt. After thoroughly praying over a sweet little Eastern European girl, they finally decided to listen to that call and pursue adoption. The children are thrilled to welcome a sister. Although this sister will not replace the one they lost, they feel this adoption journey will be a beautiful legacy left by Abigail–a legacy of Hope and of love, not of destruction. The Dahlen family lives in Birmingham, AL. Michael is a mechanical engineer, and Brandy homeschools the children, teaches at a local university, and also volunteers her time working with exchange students, including students from Russia and Ukraine. The couple has lived outside of the country and love to travel and learn about different cultures. Their biological children are Nathan (13), Anna Faith (7), Samuel (5), Abigail (forever 2), and Eli (7 months). Abigail was hit by a car and killed 7 months ago. This tragedy was unexpected and very painful to the family, but as a family, the Dahlen’s have refused to allow Abigail’s tragic death to prevent preceding with their calling to adopt. Michael and Brandy have both felt called to adopt since they were married. Both have read and followed the blogs on Reece’s Rainbow for a long time and have dreamed of their own opportunity to adopt. After thoroughly praying over a sweet little Eastern European girl, they finally decided to listen to that call and pursue adoption. The children are thrilled to welcome a sister. Although this sister will not replace the one they lost, they feel this adoption journey will be a beautiful legacy left by Abigail–a legacy of Hope and of love, not of destruction. Ukraine

Abe and Corrie Koenig were both born and raised in Germany. They lived across the street from each other and started their relationship as best friends. Little did they know that God had prepared them to spend the rest of their lives together as a family. They both came to the States to attend a Christian College since there are no Christian Colleges to attend in Germany. After a year and a half of studying, they got married in Germany and then returned to finish their degrees. God allowed them to remain in the States, and they now live in Georgia. Abe is an artist, but works as a truck driver, and Corrie is a stay-at-home/self-employed mom. Corrie worked as a nanny for a wonderful family for over five years and loved every moment with this special family. They both always dreamed of being parents, but this seemed to be a very hard task to achieve for them. Abe reached the point where he was sure that they would start their family through adoption, while Corrie was sure that God would give them biological children. After eight years of marriage, the Lord blessed them with their first biological daughter, conceived without any medical help ­- in the doctors' eyes impossible, but in their eyes a miracle. Within less than four years, God allowed them to become the parents of four beautiful little girls, Annalee (age 6), Elliana (age 4), Amarissa (age 3), and Ammadea (age 2). Along the way, they discovered that Annalee had a hearing loss and have had to help her overcome many obstacles. Elliana was born with strabismus and has needed one surgery and many, many hours of patching and vision therapy to help correct her vision. Both of their precious "special" girls planted the seed for the desire to adopt a special needs child. Although the desire to adopt a special needs child was there for a couple of years, they had no idea that God would bring Vika into their lives so soon. God allowed Corrie to find Vika on another family's blog, who had adopted from the same orphanage and had to leave her behind. Immediately upon seeing her precious face, they fell in love with her. After much prayer, research, and sharing their desire with their families, God allowed them to move forward with the process of adopting her. Abe and Corrie feel honored that God would choose them to become the parents of Vika and are committed to bringing her home to become a part of their family and receive the love and care she needs and deserves as quickly as possible. Undoubtedly, there will be many obstacles to overcome along the way, but they are sure and have faith that God will provide EVERYTHING they need to be able to bring her home and give her all that she needs. They are so grateful for Reece's Rainbow and their love for the many "special" children, the support of their family and friends, and for those who love Vika that they have never had the opportunity to meet! They are excited to share their journey with those that have loved her first. You can follow along with their journey on their blog: http://4miraclesandcounting.blogspot.com/ Ukraine